Spinning packages



June 26, 1962 E. s. TRIPP ET AL SPINNING PACKAGES 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 22, 1959 sHAGv TAI L FL-AkN YAR-Nx PP I 43? 7. m a m mwEhMo mmafim m Tl3.8 dag June 26, 1962 E. s. TRIPP ETAL 3,041,007

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ATTORNEY June 26, 1962 E. s. TRIPP EI'AL SPINNING PACKAGES 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 22, 1959 INVENTORs Elbent 6.1'1uPP Jumeb Efiwhbg ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,041,007 SPINNING PACKAGES Elbert S. Tripp, Greenville, and James E. Coursey, Clearwater, S.C., assignors to United Merchants and Manufacturers, Inn, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 22, 1959, Ser. No. 808,184 7 Claims. (Cl. 242-130) This invention relates to the preparation of yarns antecedent to the step of weaving fabrics therefrom. More particularly, the invention has to do with the application of a new method or process of handling yarns before they are woven into a fabric, and the transfer thereof from a yarn carrier to the loom.

The invention has specific application to a method and means for supplying fibers in the form of filling yarn to the loom shuttle.

Until recently it has been the practice to make relatively small filling bobbins, called quills, by means of a socalled quilling machine, which is a rather large piece of apparatus requiring a large floor area or space in the weaving mill at a place apart or separate from the loom proper. These old fashioned quilling machines were effective enough at the time for, in a manner of speaking, they provided automatic means for substantially simultaneously winding yarn from a source of supply on a considerable number of quills. As the winding of yarn on each quill was completed, according to the operation of these old style machines, it was transferred manually or otherwise to a tote box or to a pin board or Wire frame or skeleton having a series of adjacent pins in regular spaced formation for receiving upwards of 100 quilling bobbins, each of which carried its own independent supply of filling yarn, not connected in any way with the filling yarn of adjacent quills. Usually spun rayon or cotton quills are dropped layer on layer in a tote box. Pin boards are usually used only to hold filament yarns which cannot be allowed to rub together. In either case, each quill is a complete yarn unit in and of itself, and subsequently each quill is independently fed into a shuttle of the loom to provide conventional filling yarn for interlacing with the warp or ends, thereby forming the characteristic weave pattern of textile fabrics.

More recently, a system was devised for performing the step of quilling on or at the loom, as by means of a machine assembly mounted as part of a loom superstructure comprising means for automatically winding filling bobbins or quills in the loom itself and supplying them to the shuttle thereof. Devices of this character are now generally available to the trade and are commonly referred to thereby as the Unifil system of filling preparation at the loom developed and patented by the Universal Winding Company of Boston, Mass, as is exemplified by US. Patent No. 2,638,936, entitled Method and Means for Automatically Winding Filling Bobbins in a Loom and Supplying Them to the Shuttle Thereof. The term Unifil thus mentioned is a trademark registered in the US. Patent Office by the Universal Winding Company, and is used by that company to designate the system thus referred to or described for automatically winding filling bobbins in the loom and supplying them to the loom shuttle.

As will appear from an examination of the drawings of the Unifil Patent No. 2,638,936 mentioned above, and especially FIGS. 1 to 4, the invention there disclosed provides means, on the loom, for unwinding yarn from a cone and then winding the same yarn on a succession of relatively small filling bobbins, positioning each filling bobbin with the yarn wound thereon successively in the shuttle of the loom, and subsequently stripping the usedup filling quill and returning it to its original position on the loom for receiving another supply of yarn from the cone, after which the same cycle of yarn bobbin winding, use, and stripping of the spent quill or yarn bobbin is repeated as the yarn is used up from successive filling bobbins to form the filling component of the fabric which is being woven by the loom.

The present invention contemplates a new method or process of supplying filling yarn at the loom to the Unifil apparatus.

More particularly, the present invention contemplates a method of feeding filling yarn to a loom equipped with means for automatically winding filling bobbins in the loom and supplying them to the shuttle thereof, which comprises the steps of winding filling yarn on spinning bobbins, providing each filling yarn-carrying spinning bobbin with a transfer tail, creeling the filling yarn-carrying spinning bobbins on the loom, tying the transfer tail of each bobbin to the lead end of the filling yarn on the next bobbin to connect all of the filling yarns on all of the spinning bobbins, and subsequently unwinding the filling yarn sequentially from each spinning bobbin, and simultaneously supplying the unwound filling yarn on the loom to said means for automatically win-ding filling bobbins in the loom and supplying them to the shuttle thereof.

A further object of the present invention is to eliminate the use of the relatively large cone packages at the loom after the manner shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the Unifil" Patent U.S. 2,63 8,936 above mentioned and discussed. A still further object is a new method of handling filling yarn at the loom which comprises the substitution of spinning bobbins or packages, and supplying these directly to the Unifil assembly. Another object is to make possible the complete elimination of the conventional step of coning from yarn preparation in the mill prior to weaving. Perhaps the purport of this last statement should be clarified by adding that, in some cases, for particular reasons of quality or otherwise, it may be desirable to keep the step of coning, and to feed the prepared yarns from cone packages to the Unifil device on the loom, as illustrated and claimed in the Unifil Patent No. 2,638,936. By and large however, the advantage of the present invention may be employed so as to eliminate altogether the coning of yarns whereby the same may be fed to the Unifil apparatus directly from spinning bobbins.

Still another advantage of the present invention is the use of a transfer tail on the spinning bobbin, which is believed to be novel, and which in fact is necessary if the spinning bobbin is to be used at the loom. By thus pro viding a transfer device or arrangement on the spinning bobbin, a continuous supply of yarn to the Unifil assembly is ensured.

The present invention has been found especially suitable for enabling discontinuance of the coning operation, especially on all rough filling yarns, as by putting a transfer tail on the bottom of a conventional spinning package, and subsequently creeling the spinning package directly on the Unifil. It has also been found relatively simple to provide an extra length of yarn in the nature of a transfer tail at the bottom of each spinning bobbin as by means of a builder motion and/or cam operating to put a small bunch of yarn on the spinning bobbin which can be later pulled OE With the fingers and used as the transfer tail for tying the bottom end of yarn on one spinning bobbin to the top or lead end of the next adjacent spinning package or spinning bobbin at the loom, thereby enabling continuous operation of the weaving process.

With the above and other objects in view, as will be apparent, this invention consists in the construction, combination, and arrangement of parts, all as hereinafter more fully described, claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 comprises a phantom representation or skeleton of a conventional loom which may be a Draper XD loom with a suitable stand or creel mounted thereon for supplying a plurality of interconnected yarn-carrying spinning bobbins at the loom, the yarn of which is adapted to be subsequently unwound sequentially from each bobbin and simultaneously fed or brought to means also mounted on the loom for automatically winding filling bobbins therefrom in the loom and supplying them to the shuttle thereof;

FIG. 2 illustrates a preferred embodiment of the present invention comprising a creel carrying a plurality of spinning packages, each of which may be provided with a transfer tail for connecting the same to the lead end of yarn at the top of its adjacent spinning package, said creel or stand also being provided with an adjustable tensioning device for uniformly supplying the yarn as it comes off the several spinning bobbins and is fed into the automatic quilling machine;

FIG. 3 discloses another embodiment of the present invention wherein the several spinning packages are mounted about the periphery of the creel, table, or stand so as to form therewith an angle, less than a right angle, thus contrasting with the substantially vertical disposition of all of the spinning bobbins of FIG. 2; the creel of FIG. 3 also differing from that of FIG. 1, in that an alternative adjustable yarn tensioning device is there illustrated;

FIG. 4 comprises a single isolated spinning bobbin which is provided at its bottom portion with an extra yarn bunch at or near the yarn end thereof, thereby providing a transfer tail or means for interconnecting the end of the spinning package yarn, there shown, to the lead or front end of the yarn carried by an adjacent spinning bobbin;

FIG. 5 is a rather exaggerated representation of the contours or shape distortions seen in a so-called nub yarn, which also may be characterized as a rough type yarn, as referred to above, and therefore particularly suitable and adapted for carrying out the purposes and objects of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5, except that it illustrates a relatively small length or portion of a so-called slub yarn, the surface formations of which dilfer from those of the nub yarn, as will be apparent by a compari son of the yarns in FIGS. 5 and 6;

FIG. 7 illustrates a shag tail yarn which may be defined or referred to as one having a mixture of fibers, for example, fine and coarse, or for another example, fibers of cotton and fibers of rayon, it being understood, of course, that a great variety of such mixtures or blends of fiber construction and fiber nature, or both, may be utilized in practising the present invention. At the same time, it must be recognized that there are also many varieties and variations of the nub and slub yarns of FIGS. 5 and 6 hereof; and

FIG. 8 shows merely a plain yarn having no especially noticeable structural deformations or distortions, to that extent contrasting with the rough exteriors or contours of what might be termed the novelty yarns of FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 hereof, it being understood that even the plain yarns of this figure are adaptable for use according to the teachings of the present invention.

It is now proposed to feed the Unifil apparatus patented by the Universal Winding Company, as aforesaid, with a spinning bobbin directly at the loom, thereby eliminating intermediate processes, that is, the coning operation, unless such coning is considered necessary to the qality of the finished product. In achieving these and other purposes and objects, as will be apparent, a suitable stand and tensioning device was developed by which to hold and unwind a plurality of spinning bobbins, each of which was provided with a connecting link in the nature of a small yarn bunch around its base which was exposed so as to be used later as a bobbin-to-bobbin transfer tail at the loom. Heretofore, Unifil quilling had always required the use of a cone type package as shown in FIG. 1 of the Goodhue et al patent U.S. No. 2,638,936. In contrast, according to the present invention applicable to the processing of textile yarns in cloth manufacturing, a small exposed yarn bunch is added to the winding of a spinning bobbin near the base thereof, before the spinning bobbin is removed from the spinning frame. Thereafter, the yarn-carrying bobbin, with the yarn bunch, is doffed from the spinning frame and transferred to the weaving room. The bobbins are then mounted on a suitable stand or creel, positioned at, and preferably mounted upon a Universal Unifil winding unit in the loom. The yarn from the spinning packages is fed to the Unifil winding unit directly from each spinning package to make conventional filling bobbins for the loom to use. The yarn bunch at the base of each spinning bobbin is unwound and tied, as by hand or a knotting device, to the top or lead end of each adjacent spinning bobbin, thus permitting an uninterrupted and continuous supply of yarn into the Unifil unit.

So far as furnishing the bunch which is to make the transfer tail for each spinning package is concerned, this is easily accomplished right at the spinning frame, as for example, by such a simple method as having the operator hold down the spinning rail with his foot long enough to build up the desired bunch or extra length of yarn at the base of the spinning packages being filled with yarn on the spinning frame. An alternate means would be the installation of a builder motion and/ or cam so as to govern or control the movement in the vertical plane of the spindle rail, thus providing a period or stop motion interval sufficiently long to make up the desired bunch at the base of all the spinning packages in the spinning frame or twisting frame. By this means, the bunch may be stripped off without damage to, or breaking of the yarn. With the installation of such a builder motion on a spinning frame or a twister frame, it is relatively simple to produce a bunch on the spinning package which later can be pulled off with the fingers and used as a transfer tail to connect the end of one spinning package to the lead of the next. Then a plurality of such interconnected yarn-carrying spinning packages is mounted on a creel, stand, or other support at, and preferably on the loom itself, and fed one by one in sequence immediately and directly into the Unifil device, so that filling yarn is thereby supplied to the Unifil quilling apparatus [from the several creeled spinning bobbins, and the coning process and all related'and intermediate steps are completely eliminated.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings hereof, one embodiment of the invention may comprise a loom 10 such as a Draper XD loom or other weaving assembly including a warp beam 11 spanning the entrance end of the loom 10 and adapted to furnish a line of warp ends or warp yarns in the woven fabric. The loom structure it) also includes a conventional arch 12 for suspending the usual harnesses, a pair of spaced uprights 13 on either side of the loom 10 and substantially medially thereof, a lay or shed 14 mechanism adapted to be actuated to form a transverse passageway through the several warp ends whereby the filling yarns are furnished to the fabric, and a pair of delivery rollers 15 at the exit end of the loom 10 for receiving the woven fabric after the filling threads have been interlaced with the warp ends according to any desired predetermined weaving pattern.

A preferred creel, stand, or table 16 for supplying spinning packages according to the invention to the Unifil assembly of U.S. Patent No. 2,638,936 may comprise, as shown in FIG. 2 of the drawings hereof, an annular bottom plate 17 made of metal or any other suitable material of substantially rigid construction upon which are mounted at spaced intervals a plurality of plugs or mandrels 18, each of the plugs 18 being constructed and arranged for receiving and holding a loaded spinning bobbin 19 carry ing the yarn adapted to be fed into the Unifil machine. The bottom circumferential plate 17 may also be provided with outer spars 0r rods 20 adjacent the periphery of the plate 17 for supporting a preferably metallic ring member of an adjustable tensioner 21. The yarn tensioner may also comprise a cover plate 22 and a cooperating ring 23 slidably fixed as by means of the fasteners 24 to the upstanding rods 20. To hold up the cover plate 22, as seen in FIG. 2, and simultaneously to provide means for adjusting the position of the plate 22 in relation to the position of the cooperating ring 23, a plurality of spaced interior bars or supports 25 are fixed at their bottom ends to the lower plate 17, interiorly of the several mandrels or plugs 18 and are threaded at their upper ends to receive and support in a predetermined horizontal plane the upper cover plate 22, the position of which may be adjusted, as mentioned, by means of correspondingly thread engaging passageways through the cover plate 22. Thus the ring member 23, the position of which is adjustable as at 24, is normally held against movement in the horizontal plane by means of the outer spars 2.0, and the cover plate 22 is supported in normally fixed relation to the ring member 23 by means of the inside rods or bars 25, but the position occupied by the upper plate 22 in the horizontal plane may also be adjusted as by means of the threaded portions projecting from the free ends of the supporting bolts or rods 25.

It will also be noted in FIG. 2 that the upper plate 22 is provided about its periphery with a series of spaced and regularly recurring indentations or curved cut-out portions 22*, each of which forms in eiiect a guideway for passage of the yarn 26 as it is unwound from or peeled off the loaded spinning bobbins 19 carried by the spaced plugs 18 to be fed into the automatic means on the Unifil for automatically winding filling bobbins in the loom and supplying them to the shuttle thereof. The yarn 26 coming off the loaded bobbin 19 passes interiorly of the ring member 23 and exteriorly of the curved cut-out 22 of upper plate 22 and from thence is passed into the Unifil. As will be understood, by altering, that is increasing or decreasing, the relative position in the horizontal plane of the upper plate 22 and the ring 23, the extent or degree of tension applied to the yarn 26 being unwound from the loaded spinning bobbin 19 may be correspondingly varied, the plate 22 and ring member 23 thereby coacting and cooperating to constitute an adjustable tensioner 21 for the moving yarn 26 coming 011 the spinning bobbin 19 on its way to the Unifil assembly.

Referring now again to the yarn-carrying spinning bobbins 19 it will be noted that each of these bobbins 19 is provided with a yarn bunch or transfer tail 27 whereby the tail of each of the successive yarn packages 28, 29 may be knotted or tied to the lead end of the next successive yarn package 28, 29. To build this extra tail or yarn bunch at the bottom of each spinning bobbin, a special attachment may be incorporated on the spinning ring rail so as to wind one or more very short traverses of yarn at the base of the bobbin. This is called a bunch, and devices of this character or nature are called bunch builders. This bunch provides a few yards of yarn which operate to insure against having the loom stopped, due to bobbin run-out, at the point when one of the yarn-spinning bob bins 119 is spent, that is, when all of the yarn thereon has been unwound and the transfer is then made from the bottom of one spinning bobbin 19, now substantially free of the yarn 26, to the top of the next adjacent loaded spinning bobbin 19. As previouusly indicated, the short interval during which the yarn is permitted to build up at the base of the bobbin so as to constitute a transfer tail or builder bunch may be effected manually by having the spinning room operator press his foot against the ring rail so as to prevent momentarily its movement or traverse in a vertical plane, and for such a short period of time that the transfer bunch or tail is wound around the base of each spinning bobbin 19.

The unwound yarn 26 coming off the loaded spinning bobbin 19 after its passage through the plate-ring tensioner 21-2 3 is passed through an eye or guide 30, and from thence directly to the Unifil assembly illustrated in FIG.

6 1 of US. Patent No. 2,638,936 by being fed through the yarn tension control device 43 comprising a plurality of cooperating discs 44 and 45 rotatable about the vertical spindles 46, the reference numerals 43 to 46 here used referring to the parts bearing the same numbers in FIG. 1 of said patent.

A central mounting 31 for the creel or stand 16 may comprise a horizontally disposed arm or bracket 32 which supports the creel 16 at the free end of the bracket 32; the other end of the bracket 32 being bolted or otherwise rigidly fixed against movement to one of the uprights 13 at one side of the loom 10. As a matter of convenience, the mounting for the creel 16 and the bracket 32 may be such as to permit of bodily rotation of the creel 16 for the convenience of the operator who must, from time to time, replace spent spinning bobbins 19 after the yarn 26 has been entirely unwound therefrom and fed into the Unifil assembly.

A modification of the creel 16- of FIG. 2 is seen in FIG. 3, and as there disclosed, this modified stand 33 may comprise a post 34 carrying a spinning bobbin holder 35, circular in shape and of relatively large diameter, from which a series of spaced mandrels projects, each of the mandrels 36 carrying a loaded spinning bobbin 37 angularly disposed in relation to the holder plate 35, so that each of the spaced mandrels 36 forms therewith an angle less than a right angle so that all of the several spaced mandrels 36 and the spinning bobbins 37 are obliquely disposed in converging relation, as seen in FIG. 3 hereof, the top portions of the several spinning bobbins 37 being spaced from, but adjacent a yarn tensioning umbrella 38 of relatively small diameter carried at the top of the upstanding post 34, the relative position of the umbrella 38 being adjustable in the vertical plane so as to increase or decrease, as may be desired, the tension exerted by the umbrella plate 38 on the yarn 39 as it is unwound sequentially from each of the successively disposed spinning bobbins 3-7 and fed therefrom through a guide or passageway 40 disposed above the plane of the yarn tensioning device or plate 38 as by means of the side arm 41 and the cooperating cross bar 42. It is to be understood, of course, that after passing through the guide 40, the yarn 39 is fed into the tensioning device 43-46 of FIG. 1 of the Unifil Patent US. No. 2,638,936, as previously described.

It should also be pointed out, as previously mentioned, that the position of the yarn tensioning plate 38 relative to that of the bobbin holder 35 and also the relative position of the guide or passageway 40 may be altered, modified, or changed by any convenient or conventional adjustment means to thereby correspondingly modify or change the extent and degree of tension applied to the yarn 39 as it is unwound from each spinning bobbin 37 carried by the bobbin holder or relatively large table top 35. For example, a nut and screw, or pin and slot arrangement 34, or other known adjustment means might be incorporated in the central post 34, or a portion thereof located above the relatively large table top or bobbin holder 35 so as to make it possible to increase the spatial relation between the bobbin holder or table top 35 and the relatively small yarn tensioning plate 38, or if need be, to reverse the process and instead of increasing the distance between these two members, to decrease it.

FIG. 4 of the drawings hereof illustrates the loaded spinning package 47 which, as will be understood, may make up the spinning bobbins 19 of the preferred creel 16 seen in FIG. 2, or the yarn spinning bobbins 37 carried by the modified stand 33 of FIG. 3. As disclosed in FIG. 4, the yarn holder or spinning package 47 is provided with a supply of coiled yarn 48 arranged in short layers and covering substantially the whole body or length of the yarn holder 47, the yarn 48 being disposed thereon, as by means of a conventional spinning frame or twister device, with a yarn tapering portion at both ends of the bobbin or yarn holder 47. The bobbin 47 itself may be made of any one of a number of various materials such as metal, cardboard, wood, or plastic, and preferably has a central hole bored through its length whereby it may be mounted as, for example, on the mandrels 36, or plugs 18 in the creel of the present invention. It is preferably formed with a taper along the full extent of its length, the width of the bobbin gradually diminishing from the bottom thereof to the top.

As further seen in FIG. 4 hereof, a yarn bunch 49 in the nature of a transfer tail device is provided at the base 5% of the yarn holder or spinning package 47. As previously explained, this yarn bunch 49 may consist of an extra yard or so of yarn provided at that particular place, namely, the base 50 of the spinning package 47, and by means of this yarn bunch 49 a convenient means, viz. a transfer tail 51, is established for tying the bottom end of the yarn 48 carried by one spinning package 47 to the lead or beginning of the yarn 48 on the next adjacent yarn holder 47 at the top portion thereof. By the same token or transfer tail device 51, each yarn 48 on each spinning package 47 may be interconnected so as to form a unitary, uninterrupted, sequential yarn chain made up of the several yarns 48 on all of the spinning packages 47 assembled in a group on the creel 16 or 33. By this arrangement, as described, the filling yarn 48 carried by the several spinning packages 47 are provided with individual transfer tails 51, and all of the several yarn-carrying spinning bobbins 47 may be creeled on the loom, and since the transfer tail 51 at the base 50 of each of the several yarn holders 47 is tied, knotted, or otherwise joined or connected to the lead end 52 of the filling yarn 48 on the next adjacent bobbin 47, the filling yarn 48 of each of the spinning bobbins 47 may be unwound sequentially from each bobbin and simultaneously supplied, on the loom, to means of the type illustrated in the said U.S. Patent No. 2,638,936 for automatically winding filling bobbins in the loom and supplying them to the shuttle thereof.

FIGS. 5-, 6 and 7 illustrate various so-called novelty type yarns which do not require coning in the process of yarn preparation, and are, therefore, especially suitable and desirable for application in practicing the present invention. Notwithstanding, the method of the present invention may also be used for other type yarns wherever coning is not considered essential. It may be used for singles yarns as well as doubled and other plied yarns, for spun yarns and filament yarns, and core yarns and yarns of other types, in fact for yarns of all types. Similarly, the fiber content of the yarn is immaterial, and the present invention may be practiced with yarns made up of any natural, synthetic, or man-made fiber, or combinations or blends thereof, including yarns made of or containing small or large percentages of cotton, regenerated cellulose, cellulose acetate, nylon, orlon, the polyester known as dacron, polyacrylic nitrile, or other acrylic type, or yarns of any other fiber nature.

Fod identification purposes, it may be said that the yarn 53 of FIG. 5 is a nubby yarn, while the yarn 54 of FIG. 6 is a slub yarn, the yarn of FIG. 7 is a shag tail yarn 55, and that of FIG. 8 is a plain yarn 56. All of these terms, of course, which are used here to describe the several yarns 5356 are well-known in the trade; the terms nub, slub and shag tail being applied to so-called novelty yarns which do not require any further definition and, of course, the term plain yarn as applied to the plain yarn 56 is intended to be a comprehensive designation for a yarn of substantially any yarn type or character other than the novelty yarns 53-55.

In the light of the foregoing, it will be understood that the present invention contemplates and provides a method of, and means for feeding filling yarn to a loom equipped with means for automatically winding filling bobbins in the loom and supplying them to the shuttle thereof, which comprises the steps of winding filling yarn on spinning bobbins, providing each filling yarncarrying spinning bobbin with a transfer tail, creeling the filling yarn-carrying spinning bobbins on the loom, tying the transfer tail of each bobbin to the lead end of the filling yarn on the next bobbin to connect all of the filling yarns on all of the spinning bobbins, and subsequently unwinding the filling yarn sequentially from each bobbin, and simultaneously supplying the unwound filling yarn on the loom to said means for automatically winding filling bobbins in the loom and supplying them to the shuttle thereof.

Said means for feeding filling yarn to a loom of the character described, that is, a loom equipped with means for automatically winding filling bobbins in the loom and supplying them to the shuttle thereof, according to the method thus recited and described, may comprise a creel for mounting a plurality of yarn-carrying spinning packages on the loom, each spinning package being provided with a yarn bunch or transfer tail at its base for connecting or tying together the yarn of one spinning package to the yarn of the next adjacent spinning package, and a yarn tensioning device interposed between the creel and the loom for simultaneously and continuously unwinding the filling yarn sequentially from each bobbin and supplying the unwound filling yarn on the loom to said means incorporated in the loom for automatically winding filling bobbins in the loom and supplying them to the shuttle thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. Means for feeding filling yarn from bobbins to a loom constructed and arranged automatically to wind said filling bobbins in the loom and supply the same to the shuttle thereof, which means comprise a support bracket fixed to one side of the loom, a filling yarn bobbin carrying table carried by the support bracket and comprising spaced top and bottom plates, a series of bars projecting upwardly from the outer periphery of the bottom plate, a complementary series of rods extending vertically upward from the inner portions of the bottom plate, the top plate being carried by the rods in spaced horizontal alignment with the bottom plate, the distance vertically between the top and bottom plates defining a filling yarn bobbin carrying zone, a yarn tensioning ring carried by the bars between the top and bottom plates, guide means for passing the several filling yarns upwardly from the bobbins, under the ring, over the top plate, and finally into the loom, and means individual to each bar for adjusting the position only of a segment of the ring relative to the position of a corresponding segment of the top plate, thereby providing means for selectively varying the amounts of tension applied to the filling yarns during their passage under the ring and over the top plate.

2. Means for feeding filling yarn from bobbins to a loom constructed and arranged automatically to wind said filling bobbins in the loom and supply the same to the shuttle thereof, which means comprise a support adjacent the loom, a filling yarn bobbin carrying table carried by the support and comprising top and bottom plates, a plurality of bars projecting upwardly from the outer portion of the bottom plate, a plurality of rods extending vertically upward from the inner portion of the bottom plate, the top plate being carried by the rods in spaced horizontal alignment with the bottom plate, the distance vertically between the top and bottom plates defining a filling yarn bobbin carrying zone, a yarn tensioning ring mounted between the top and bottom plates, means for passing the several filling yarns upwardly from the bobbins, under the ring, over the top plate, and finally into the loom, and means for adjusting the position of the ring relative to the position of the top plate, thereby providing means for varying the amount of tension applied to the filling yarns during their passage under the ring and over the top plate.

3. Means for feeding filling yarn from bobbins to a loom constructed and arranged automatically to wind said filling bobbins in the loom and supply the same to the shuttle thereof, which means comprise a support adjacent the loom, a filling yarn bobbin carrying table carried by the support and comprising spaced top and bottom plates, a plurality of bars projecting upwardly from the outer portion of the bottom plate, a plurality of rods extending vertically upward from the inner portion of the bottom plate, the top plate being carried by the rods in spaced horizontal alignment with the bottom plate, the distance vertically between the top and bottom plates defining a filling yarn bobbin carying zone, a yarn tensioning ring mounted between the top and bottom plates, guide means for passing the several filling yarns upwardly from the bobbins, under the ring, over the top plate, and finally into the loom, and means individual to each bar for adjusting the position only of a segment of the ring relative to the position of a corersponding segment of the top plate, thereby providing means for selectively varying the amounts of tension applied to the filling yarns during their passage under the ring and over the top plate.

4. A filling yarn bobbin carrying table comprising spaced top and bottom plates, a plurality of bars projecting upwardly from the outer portion of the bottom plate, a plurality of rods extending vertically upward from the inner portion of the bottom plate, the top plate being carried by the rods in spaced horizontal alignment with the bottom plate, the distance vertically between the top and bottom plates defining a filling yarn bobbin carrying zone, a yarn tensioning ring interposed between the top and bottom plates, means for passing the filling yarn upwardly from the bobbin, under the ring, and over the top plate, and means for adjusting the position of the ring relative to the position of the top plate, thereby providing means for varying the amount of tension applied to the filling yarn during passage of said yarn under the ring and over the top plate.

5. A filling yarn bobbin carrying table comprising a pair of horizontally aligned top and bottom plates of relatively small and large diameters, respectively, mounted in variable spaced relation on a central post, a plurality of inclined yarn bobbin holders disposed obliquely in convergent relation at predetermined stations around the upper surface of the bottom plate, a yoke comprising a frame with vertical side arms connected at their free ends to the bottom plate and a horizontal cross piece including a yarn guide suspended over the top plate, said yarn guide being in substantial axial alignment with the central post, thereby providing means for removing filling yarn from bobbins on said yarn bobbin holders and passinng it over said top plate and through said guide, and means for adjusting the relative position of said top plate in the vertical plane in relation to the distance thereof from the bottom plate, thereby providing means for adjusting the tension on said yarn passing from the yarn bobbins over the top plate and through said yarn guide.

6. A filling yarn bobbin carrying table comprising horizontally aligned top and bottom plates mounted in variable spaced relation on a central post, a plurality of yarn bobbin holders disposed in spaced relation at pre determined stations about the periphery of the bottom plate, a yoke comprising a frame having vertical side arms connected at their free ends to the bottom plate and a horizontal cross piece including a yarn guide suspended over the top plate, said yarn guide being in substantial axial alignment with the central post, thereby providing means for removing filling yarn from bobbins on said yarn bobbin holders and passing it over said top plate and through said guide, and means for adjusting the relative position of said top plate in the vertical plane in relation to the distance thereof from the bottom plate, thereby providing means for adjusting the tension on said yarn passing from the yarn bobbins over the top plate and through said yarn guide.

7. Table for filling yarn bobbins comprising horizontally aligned top and bottom plates mounted in variable spaced relation on at least one upright, a plurality of yarn bobbin holders disposed at predetermined stations exteriorly of the upright and on top of the bottom plate, a bobbin yarn guide suspended above the top plate, the vertical axis of said guide being substantially aligned with the vertical axis of the top plate thereby providing means for passing the filling yarn under tension from said bobbins into slidable contact with the outer edge of said top plate and then to said guide, and means for adjusting the relative position of the top plate in the vertical plane in relation to the distance thereof from the bottom plate thereby providing means for adjusting tension on the yarn as it passes from the yarn bobbins over the outer edge of the top plate and to the said yarn guide.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,115,509 Colman et a1. Nov. 3, 1914 1,125,679 Fessman et al Jan. 19, 1915 2,076,762 Bochmann Apr. 13, 1937 2,566,801 Jackson et al. Sept. 4, 1951 2,638,936 Goodhue et al May 19, 1953 2,800,780 Chivington July 30, 1957 

